This is Sam sleeping on a bus from Siena to Florence and we include it to demonstrate how well our little guy travels. Although our first long flight wasn't entirely successful (he slept 2 of 9 hours-- yikes!), he was easily entertained by books and conversation for much of it. And on all other flights, he slept! We credit this in part to our *genius* planning-- lots of books from the library about plane flights, all with one or two sentences inserted about how "people go on planes to take a nap," or some such variation. But mostly, this is Sam at his best-- flexible and responsive to suggestion! The hardest part of the traveling was lugging all of our stuff and dealing with four-hour layovers at Heathrow on minimal sleep ourselves. Glad to be home...
Our first stop was Amsterdam, where the three of us kicked around in a hotel and explored the city for two days. Sam loved the boat ride and all the new sights (including a very brisk, unplanned walk through the Red Light district-- whoops!). It bears mentioning that he was not quite the restaurant companion we'd hoped for. Good thing we had a babysitter lined up for Florence. Let's just say that spinach-tossing is not thought of fondly in Europe either...
On to Florence for the week, where we stayed in an incredible apartment two blocks from the Duomo. It was very hot and Sam's sleep was a bit out of whack (11 pm cereal-parties in the kitchen, anyone?), but we made some wonderful memories, saw lots of beautiful art and ate fabulous meals where no spinach was tossed because, thankfully, babysitter Lauren was quite the hit (until the last day, when Sam had enough and screamed hysterically when he saw her-- uh, yeah, we ate at home that night). Sam's favorite part was clearly spending time with family. He repeatedly named everyone (again and again and again) and, like a little corgi, did his best to herd us throughout the week. Now home, he clearly misses Beh, Kuh, Nana (or Na-NEE, depending on the day) and Pah-Pah.
We had to get creative for bathtime, but Sam rolled with it like a champ and charmed us all with his love of bubbles, his precious foam letters and his ability to fit into very small spaces when necessary.
We ended the trip with three lovely days in Leiden, a suburb of Amsterdam, where we stayed with a dear old family friend, Marijke. Marijke's hospitality was unparalleled, and with 70 degree weather, bicycles, canals and the yummiest of yummy little pancakes known as poffertjes, we had a wonderful last hurrah.
Arrivederci and Daag for now!
2 comments:
Welcome home! The U.S. of A is so happy to have you back (and so are we!). We'd been waiting anxiously for the pics. Looks like you had such an amazing time!
ps Mama- your hair looks lovely!
Oh now...I thought that was VERY witty, and wonderful. What a great adventure...everyone looked so happy! I loved the photo of Sam with head out the window in the boat! Memories are things that no one can ever take from you. Hooray! Welcome home!
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